3rd grade field trip

I love that Porter still wants me to come on his field trips to chaperone.

and I love that my husband has a flexible job.

He was able to work from home so I could go.  Ethan slept most of the time I was gone, so he was able to work.  I just didn't feel like I could ask one of my friends to take a baby for so long.

We had a nice time.  I even rode the bus.  Porter's class tye dyed shirts. 

I love that his teacher thought to include her adult chaperones in the tye dye project.

two front teeth... missing

Rookie Camp

Preston was old enough this year to participate in swim team's week long rookie camp.

He did so great! He loved going swimming every day. 

He told us, with his great big, ear to ear smile "I'm big now, I'm on swim team!"

Now he's a tadpole, it's basically swim lessons for pre-swim teamers. 

He gets to swim every day, and is still loving it.

Sophie and Preston have started swim team, and are looking so good in the water. 

growing puppies

we went back to see how the puppies had grown...

they're so cute...

i just kept reminding myself that puppies grow up to be dogs...

preston was adorable lovin on those puppies...

he kept asking me if we could have a big dog (scout) and a small dog (a puppy)...

Mother's Day Cards

My Special Mother
My mother is the most wonderful mom in the whole world!
She's as pretty as... a flower
She weighs... 100 lbs and is ... 6 ft tall
Her favorite food is ... dark chocolate
I think Mom looks funny when she ... plays the wii
But I know she's really angry when she... screams
I wish mom would... play the wii.... with me every day
I would not trade my mother for ... the world
Happy Mothers Day! 
Love Porter

My Mom
My  mom's name is... Angela
My  mom is... 34 years old
My mom's favorite color is... pink
My mom's favorite food is... everything
In her free time my mom likes to ... read
My favorite thing to do with my mom is... play with her
My mom likes it when I ... clean my room
I love you mom! 
Love  Sophie

My Mom
My mom's name is ... Mommy
My mom is... 5 years old
My mom's favorite color is... red
My mom's favorite food is... salad
In her free time mom likes to... draw letters
My favorite thing to do with my mom is... get hugs from her
My mom likes it when I ... charge batteries for the leapster
I love you mom!
Love Preston

Ethan's Baby Blessing

Yes, we did bless Ethan... it just took us a while.  Not that we didn't want to, I secretly kept hoping that some family would come witness the event.  We soon realized that wasn't going to happen so we scheduled for December, but my grandma passed away, and I was out of town for the funeral.  So we rescheduled for January.  We did bless him in January, but we took the pictures with our big camera... and I wasn't sure how to load the pictures on the computer.  When Doug was out of town I finally sat down and figured it out.  It wasn't hard.  So here they are!  Proof that we blessed out little sweet heart!  Doug gave a beautiful blessing.  Ethan proved why it's better to bless them when they're less squirmy.  We sure love him!  Our family feels so much more complete with him here. 

bubble baths

annual strawberry jam making night

Annual strawberry jam making late night adventures with Porter and mom!
I love this tradition!

Basketball Super Star!

the rest of the story

Porter's primary teacher took him out into the hall to get after him for acting out in class. Instead of getting angry, as he was planning, he followed the spirit, and asked Porter how things were going. Porter broke down and unloaded all of his stressed. He detailed how stressed out he is about the TASKS test and about earning another tile and about piano and about all of the homework he has to do at school. They had a good little chat, went back in the room, and Porter didn't cause any more problems in class. What a blessing to have the spirit. T have good people in our kids lives who follow that spirit. What a good example to me, to not go so quick to anger. But to realize that so often there are things going on that we don't understand. I hope that I can treat others, my children included, with the same love that was shown to Porter.

Welcome Spring!

The start of our garden

strawberry plants... Preston loves to water them...

Today he told me that he watered the strawberries, and he only ate one (I'm sure it was the only one!)

 the bees are hard at work pollinating our lemon bushes

 examining the strawberry plants

 gerber daisies

 flower buds

 out with the old flowers...

 baby oranges

 love this boy soooo much!

 bird's nest

 more of the pre-planted strawberries

 a worm has already discovered how tasty our plums can be

On Easter Sunday, the speaker in sacrament meeting mentioned that Easter is a time not only of rebirth and resurection (which is what I usually think of) but it's also a time of renewal... I've been thinking a lot about that concept.  If I miss the New Year's Resolution boat, there's always Easter!  But in a way it's an even better time to recommit ourselves to focusing on what's really important.  Spring just makes me happy, seeing everything come alive.  It's inspiring and creates such a feeling of hope and positive energy.  This time of spring is a beautiful season of renewal in nature and can be for our spirits as well.  A renewal to ourselves to be more like Christ.  To do the things we know we're supposed to be doing... To recenter our efforts on living up to our potential... To rejoicing in the knowledge we have of God's plan for us... To loving and enjoying our families more... To feeling joy. 

more toothless grins

Sophie has been riding her bike to school in the morning.  She rides and I run with the boys in the stroller.  It's so fun. She feels like such a big kid, and it gets me up and moving.  Often times I just keep running after I drop her off. Although that will probably have to end soon.  It is just getting so hot!

Porter leaves a little before us.  He rides with his friend Matthew. They like to leave early to eat breakfast at school.  It's free and I suppose more exciting than what we have a home.  I don't buy sugar cereal, which they can get at school.  I did put a hold on his account, no flavored milk... only plain.  Who needs strawberry, root beer, vanilla, creamsicle flavors?  I really noticed a change in his behavior when he started eating breakfast at school, but it took me a while to put all of the pieces together.  Putting a hold on the milk made a big difference. 

 I sometimes think people (my husband included)  think I'm crazy for pointing fingers at high fructose corn syrup and red dye 40 and yellow dyes. But I have proof in Porter that it does affect behavior, so  I keep resisting, sometimes I do better than others.  But some day maybe I'll get the courage to make some noise in the school district's nutrition department.  If they're so worried about childhood obesity, why are they cutting PE and selling ice cream at lunch?  Oh, don't get me going... I had better stop now...

new smile

Sophie has been loosing teeth like crazy!  She lost four in less than one week. 

 Her second front tooth came on during an early morning bike ride with me. I was running, she was riding.  We had tried to convince her to let us pull her tooth the night before, lest she swallow it in her sleep... She refused, she was still trying for that tooth necklace.  As she happily rode her bike along, I heard a "Mommy, my tooth!"  It had fallen out on the road.  We spent the rest of my run time looking for the tooth, we stopped again on the way to school, and she and Porter stopped on the way home.  Trying to locate the tooth. 

She ended up writing the tooth fairy a note, explaining what had happened.  Luckily for her , the tooth fairy has trusty tooth radar, and the tooth was returned to her under her pillow.  The next night she was able to cash it in for money. 

 Her bottom teeth fell out a few days later.  Again, still trying to get that tooth necklace, Sophie's tooth fell out just before she left for school.  I met her for lunch that day, and she showed me a tooth necklace.  I thought her teacher had kindly given her a necklace even though she didn't lose it at school.  Oh no, I was wrong, she'd lost the other one when she got to school.  At last, the tooth necklace was hers! (note the necklace in the first picture)

Now I can't get enough of that toothless grin!

izzy

Sophie's sweet friend Izzy is moving on Friday... We are a little bit beside ourselves with grief... Sophie and Izzy are in the same kindergarten class at school and that has made all of the difference in our successful school year... sigh... Sometimes I don't like change very much at all! I love Izzy's mom too... I'm tired of my friends moving...

Easter Eggs

The traditional dying of Easter eggs... I had planned on dying eggs with the pre-school kids the following day, but resorted to decorating with stickers instead.  One egg dying experience was enough for me!

Jerusalem Dinner

I love the book, A Christ Centered Easter.  It has made such a difference in making Easter a more Christ centered experience.  We started off the week before Easter with a Jerusalem dinner and the Easter Story in eggs for Family Home Evening.  Our friend Cassandra and her kids joined us.

Our primary used the book as a spring board for their Easter activity.  It went so well.  They had a small JJerusalem dinner, they reenacted Christ's entrance into JJerusalem with palm leaves waving and a quick synopsis of his week in Jerusalem, they colored bookmarks, and learned about the symbols of Easter.  They ended the activity with an Easter egg hunt. So fun!

This year I was struck with the renewal part of Easter.  One of the speakers in sacrament mentioned that Easter is a time not just of rebirth, which is what I generally think about at Easter... the resurrection and the atonement... but it's also a time of renewal, which to me symbolized a chance to recommit to do the things I know I should be doing, or to resolve to do them better. I love the term, renewal too, it's not as scary as resolution, it's full of hope and renewed energy and resolve.

Brazos Bend

Barbara came for a visit at the beginning of April.  It was so great to see her. We so appreciate and look forward to her regular trips down here. She was here for the school Spring Fling... Kind of funny because she was here for it last year too.  We joked that she'll have to try and time her visit in the fall for the Halloween Carnival/Trunk or Treat. 

We drove down to Brazos Bend on Saturday in search of alligators. We were not disappointed! Fortunately we are able to keep our distance by staying on the trails, and docks. The weather was beautiful, and it was so nice to be together.

They have an observation center with the largest telescope that is open for public use.  As we explored the small observation center, Sophie thought we left, and headed out the door in search of us. When I noticed she was gone, I absolutely panicked, because I know her and know that she would not wander off.  I really thought someone had kidnapped her.  Doug had the presence of mind to leave and retrace our steps from where we came, back down the path.  He located her with a friendly mom who was helping a crying Sophie find us. Such a terrifying experience that lasted less than ten minutes, but shock me for the rest of the day.  I kept her close by and vowed to be more careful and attentive!

We finished the day with some great food from Texas Roadhouse. Thanks Barb! The kids were so tired, at one point I looked around, and they were all lying down. It made for a quiet meal.

We spent Sunday at church and enjoying a quiet dinner at home.  Barbara left early Monday morning. Thanks for such a nice visit!